Thursday, June 1, 2017

Egyptian Skirt

As I've been saying, ad nauseam, I haven't been much in the mood to make things lately. But my mom sent me a copy of Sew What Skirts a couple of weeks ago, a book I checked out from the library a long time ago used to make a few skirts (one, two, three). She had also recently sent me a yard of material that must date from when I was in high school and wanted to be an Egyptologist (why oh why didn't I follow that career path? I could spend my winters in the hot, sunny desert!!). I've been wearing skirts a lot lately, especially on warm days, because they're as comfortable as yoga pants but look less like I'm wearing pajamas, and I could use a few more to put into rotation. So: new skirt book + new (old) fabric + recent skirt-wearing phase = time to make a skirt!

There wasn't quite enough fabric for a skirt that covers the knees, so I decided to make a tiered skirt, using some salmon-colored linen I had lying around (actually, the legs from a pair of pants I got at a clothing swap and disassembled with the intention of making linen scarves, which never happened). But the skirt, with a short top tier, and a long second tier, looked kinda funny, like it was a skirt that was falling down, so I folded the linen tier in half and made it into a really wide waistband, kind of like a yoga waistband (only not stretchy). It makes me realize how easy it would be to make a skirt by gathering fabric and attaching it to a pre-made yoga waistband (where can one find such a thing?).

Because the main part of the skirt is two full yards gathered up, it's pretty poofy, but I like the way it feels (how it looks is another story, the poofiness accentuating my already too-generous hips and butt). A friend belatedly suggested pockets, which will definitely happen next time. What I really love about this fabric is that it depicts pages from a field book, of sketches and notes from temples and artifacts, which is exactly what I'd want to do if I went to Egypt—sketch and write about everything. But if I'm not going to Egypt anytime soon, I can at least look like Ms. Frizzle while I reread Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Coincidentally, E and Z were working on Ancient Egypt projects the same day I was making my skirt. Needless to say, I finished my project a lot faster and with a lot less whining and moaning than they did theirs.